CASE STUDY GOLDRIVER ORCHARDS AARON HAND | EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Automated Control Gives Walnut Processor Real-Time Insight Into Inventory Switching over from manual recordkeeping to digital tracking has provided the producer with a more accurate view of walnut quantities, qualities, and a host of other attributes that were previously difficult to monitor. ▲
D
EVELOPED IN 2003 to vertically integrate the walnut farming business of sister company Barton Ranch, GoldRiver Orchards processes almost 30 million lbs of walnuts a year. In mid-2013, GoldRiver moved to a new 104,000-sq-ft facility in Escalon, Calif., to better serve the approximately 100 growers in its network, most of which are in the Escalon area, east of San Francisco. The HACCP-certified processing plant is designed for maximum efficiency and quality. The processor sells its walnuts in bulk packaging— in sacks or boxes, typically either in their shells to be cracked by consumers at home or as kernels that have already been cracked and sorted. Producing this number of walnuts does not come without some difficulties, especially with the level of variety in the shelled walnuts. GoldRiver requires detailed visibility through all stages of sorting and grading, as well as through sales. Managing sales, which are mostly make-to-order, requires knowledge of what the company has in raw materials, work-in-process (WIP), and finished goods at any given time. Until recently, that was all tracked mostly manually, with color-coded WIP cards used to describe the different types of walnuts moving through the plant. “Particularly on the kernel side, inventory’s very difficult. There are a number of different varieties. Once they’re shelled, they change form,” says Matt Metzner, vice president of GoldRiver Orchards. The walnuts can decrease in weight by as much as 45% without their shells. They’re broken into different-sized pieces, and the processor learns more about the walnuts’ color. “Because of all of those changes that happen naturally, it’s really tough to understand what you have in terms of WIP.” It was an inefficient and unreliable tracking process and did not provide the real-time visibility needed. Spreadsheet-based reports—often generated four or five times a day—were labor-intensive to update and publish to managers, and were also
ParityFactory software gives GoldRiver Orchards realtime insights on its walnut inventory, providing a much better idea of what is available to sell.
PHOTO COURTESY OF GOLDRIVER ORCHARDS
prone to errors. And the inventory moves so quickly from the yard into various production steps, that as soon as a report was generated, it was out of date.
Automated material tracking In mid-2019, GoldRiver integrated ParityFactory software into all areas of production. The software combines warehouse management with manufacturing execution system (MES) capabilities—tracking processing from receiving through shipping to provide comprehensive materials control. ParityFactory tracks product movement through all production phases. GoldRiver operates as a batch manufacturing plant, Metzner explains, with different www.profoodworld.com
0421_CaseStudy-GoldRiver.indd 47
| April 2021 | PROFOOD WORLD
47
3/31/21 8:13 AM
